AC Milan will be up against Fiorentina tomorrow afternoon and Niclas Füllkrug, who arrived at the start of the month, could make his first start for the club.
At the time of writing, 48 hours haven’t even passed since Milan 1-1 draw against Genoa came to end, taking place on Thursday evening. Adding the fact that tomorrow’s game is scheduled for 15:00 CET and not in the evening, you can understand that some rotation is needed.
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During his press conference, Massimiliano Allegri confirmed that Luka Modric will be one of the ‘sacrificed’ players. It will actually be the veteran’s first time starting on the bench in a league game, which says a lot about how much he has played.
Three significant changes
In addition to Modric, as reported by MilanNews, Rafael Leao could also be rested by the manager. He’s currently in a battle with Füllkrug for the final spot up front, with Christian Pulisic nailed on to keep his place in the XI.
At the back, Koni De Winter will replace the suspended Fikayo Tomori, while it looks like Samuele Ricci will take Modric’s spot. For Ardon Jashari, who has been named as the deputy of the Croatian, this will surely be a bit disappointing.
Predicted Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; De Winter, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Ricci, Rabiot, Bartesaghi; Pulisic, Fullkrug/Leao.
Predicted Milan bench: Terracciano, Torriani, Athekame, Dutu, Odogu, Estupinan, Fofana, Jashari, Modric, Nkunku, Fullkrug/Leao.
Fofana still in the starting XI
rotate squad
Allegri’s not going to change TWO starters in the same department unless he has to. Fofana could sit only if Modric and Rabiot are starting. We’ll have to wait until at least next week.
Why doesn’t Jashari get more playing time? Is he really showing less than Ricci in training?
I hope and suspect that Jashari will get his chances in the second half of the season but considering he was out for 4 months it has obviously also played a great deal in how few minutes he has played. Ricci on the other hand has also done a good job up until now with 1 goal and 2 assist in 823 minutes over all tournaments so not too bad stats for the Italian. Allegri is probably more comfortable starting with Ricci and then hopefully will give Jashari half an hour in the second half.
Fofana should be on another vacation. He has to be on a short leash tomorrow. Any hiccups and Allegri has to pull him quickly. Can’t afford to drop points in this game.
So Flopfana both on the bench and starting line up. Great!
It’s Fulkrug time
From the little I saw of him the last game, I like his fighting spirit. And he seems to be getting livelier and gelling with the team. Hoping for a goal from him 😁
Just got to believe in it
Start ricci and jashori, make rabiot do the offensive run and We Will win. We can’t start Leao and pulisic together. Let one of them come in after 55 minutes and you Will see the results
“We can’t start Leao and pulisic together.” Been saying this since Allegri decided on the 3-5-2. They’re our top scorers, but they have achieved this largely NOT playing together. Then, Allegri likes to play a no. 9 and a supporting attacker, so once a good player of Allegri’s preferred type is brought in (ex. Vlahovic), one of Leao or Pulisic will find themselves on the bench. I wonder which one of the two will be happy with that…
What are you talking about? Leao plays on the left and Pulisic plays on the right, that’s his preferred position. They can both play off a center forward. Neither of them will be benched, the front three is likely to be Leao, Vlahovic and Pulisic.
Well first of all we don’t play with 3 up top. Allegri play a 3-5-2. Second of all the right is not Pulisic’s preferred position even tho he has done well there it’s not his natural position. Many would like to see us play a front 3 but I doubt Allegri will do it.
I actually think for this match with Tomori out we should play a 4-3-3 with Athekame on the right back, Leao Fulkrum ans Pulisic up top, but again, it’s Allegri… 3 attacking players is just too much for him.
As much as many people want Fofana benched (myself included), I think Allegri keeps playing him because of his physicality and willingness to drive forward, despite how sloppy and wasteful he can be. If RLC were more physical and less injury-prone, he’d probably be the starter, because he’s clearly cleaner and more efficient than Fofana.
But Allegri has always prioritised solidity above everything else. A less physical midfielder would increase the defensive workload for the other two midfielders, which immediately reduces that solidity. For better or worse, that’s why we’re stuck with Fofana for now—and all we can really hope is that he picks up some positional discipline and game management from someone like Rabiot.
We go again at 3pm
Fofana not only drives forward, his passing his excellent. RLC is a better finisher and more athletic, but he rarely delivers.
Ricci and Jashari must genuinely be thinking about jumping ship to a better team at this point. What more could they be needing to do to get ahead of a consistent 5/10 like fofana???
I wonder why Fofana again.
Oh why Fofan again?